MONROE, La. --- With an opening on his staff, ULM men’s basketball head coach Orlando Early announced the promotion of Kedric Smith to the position of assistant coach Tuesday morning.

Smith’s promotion is pending approval by the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors.

“Kedric Smith was born to be a coach,” Early said. “I am excited to elevate him up to a full-time coaching position. He is from Alexandria and knows the state well. Keeping him on our staff as an assistant coach is a real positive for our program.”

An intern on the Warhawk staff for the past two seasons, Smith has been on the sidelines of 20 ULM victories, including a pair in the 2008-09 campaign against NCAA Tournament-participant teams and a 2007-08 victory at the Big 10’s Iowa on its way to claiming the championship of the Hawkeye Challenge.

During the past two seasons, Smith helped the Warhawks with tracking the academic progress of student-athletes, game film and charting of statistics, scheduling and operations on road trips, and the day-to-day operations for the basketball staff.

“I’ve known Kedric for almost half of his life,” Early said. “I coached him at UNC-Charlotte where he was a great player and leader for us. For the last two season’s while he has been at ULM he has continued to grow.”

The son of legendary Peabody High School head coach Charles Smith, ULM’s newest assistant coach has deep ties to high schools and the AAU scene around the state of Louisiana. Before joining the Warhawk staff as an intern, Smith served as an assistant coach for the New Orleans Jazz of the AAU circuit and at Peabody HS.

Coaching current Warhawk forward Rudy Turner at Peabody HS as an assistant coach in 2007, Smith helped his father’s team to a fifth Louisiana State Championship.

No stranger to the ULM head coach, Smith was a four-year letterwinner on Bobby Lutz’s UNC-Charlotte squad while Early was an assistant coach. While playing with the 49ers, Smith helped his team to three NCAA Tournament appearances, one NIT appearance, and a Conference USA Tournament Championship as a point guard.

“I am thankful for the opportunity to become an assistant coach at a great university in a state that I love,” Smith said. “It has always been my dream to coach at the college level in the state of Louisiana and I am thrilled to be doing it for coach Early at ULM.”

Smith received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in African American studies in 2002 from UNC-Charlotte.

He assumes the position vacated by former assistant coach Tom Coverdale who had been with the program since the 2005-06 campaign.